Ash in the Wind
by Jarvo
Summary: My take on "what happens next?"
1. Chapter 1

**Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the first chapter of what will hopefully become a fairly long take on the "what happened next?" scenario. Obviously nothing you recognise here from Alpha Force is mine. **

**Constructive criticism is encouraged; please spend a moment to review! Bear in mind, though, that I have no idea about hacking or, surprisingly, much experience of being shot at by gun-toting maniacs. Anyway, on to...**

Chapter One

"Paulo, you're meant to be shooting them!"

"I know, hombre! I am _trying-_"

Paulo ducked down as their attackers started firing back at them, narrowly missing his exposed head.

"Madre de dios!"

The five members of Alpha Force were pinned down behind a low wall, next to the brick building which housed their next objective. Paulo was peering cautiously back over the wall at the attacking troops, who had stationed themselves behind a privet hedge a two hundred yards across the park. Hex was fiddling frantically with the electronic lock on the steel door next to them.

"Hurry up! I could do that faster than you." Amber prodded Hex. "In case you haven't noticed, we're being shot at by six maniacs with machine guns."

"Much as I realise that you are, in fact, perfect, Amber, I highly doubt that you could do this any faster than me." Hex said sarcastically, frowning as he poked a screwdriver into the inner workings of the lock.

"I hate to say this, you lot, but I think they're coming around the other side."

Alex, who had been listening in on the enemy radio communications, turned around, holding a pair of earphones to his ear.

"And they're bringing in… a helicopter?"

Alpha Force ducked as machine gun fire rattled down around them, blinding them with a searchlight; luckily the helicopter couldn't come in low because of the trees.

"I've done it!" cried Hex as the attacking reinforcements piled around the corner, firing frantically as Alpha Force dived through the now open steel door and into the building.

"Alex! The door!" cried Hex, and Alex, the last through, slammed the door closed, sliding across the metal bar which secured it into its frame.

"Where now?" Alex asked Amber, peering along the windowless corridor.

"Erm…" she consulted a schematic. "We need to go along this corridor, around a corner and into a warehouse space. Then we go up a staircase onto a gantry, around the side of the warehouse and through a locked door. Okay?"

"Right… come on then!" whooped Li. The rest of Alpha Force ran after her, looking back at the frantic hammerings coming from the door, which was now starting to buckle as their attackers tried to force it. Reaching the warehouse, Alpha Force sprinted across the bare concrete floor and up the gantry stairs. Once at the top, they ran keeping low, until finally they dived into an office which overlooked the main loading area.

"Right." Hex took out his palmtop and settled in an office chair, plugging a USB cable into the back of a desktop PC, which was set upon a cluttered desk. "Alex, lock the door, and see if you can barricade it. Li, go and keep a look out for when they get into the warehouse. Amber, you try and find us a way out of here."

"Who put you in charge?" Amber demanded, hands on hips.

"The fact that I'm the only one who can hack this man's computer in less than two minutes. Now, find us an exit."

Paulo, not having been given a task, took it upon himself to search the room, paying special attention to the low walls. "Amber, where is the fuse box?"

"What?"

"The fuse box. Where is it? I have a plan."

"It's not a Plan, is it?" called Li from her post beside the window which looked down into the warehouse."

"No, just a plan." said Paulo with feeling.

"It's in that cupboard over there."

Paulo crossed the room and opened the cupboard door, fiddling with a box at the back.

Hex's fingers flew across the keyboard of his palmtop as he remotely accessed the files on the pc in front of him.

High-level encryptions, firewalls and password-protected documents fell before him, as he ploughed his way through the computer to the man's hard drive. Here, he brought up one of his favourite search programs, setting it for its fastest sweep and instructing it to download any useful data to a secure directory on his palmtop. A box popped up in the bottom corner of Hex's desktop; 2:37, and counting down.

"Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds until the download is complete, guys. Li, any sign of them?"

"Not yet," Li, peering through the floor-to-ceiling window, replied. "Hang on, though, is that- GET DOWN!"

The five dived to the ground, Hex shielding his palmtop with his body. Something smashed through the window, before detonating in the room, sending blast waves through the room and tossing paper and office equipment up into the air.

Hex was the first up, checking that the fragile USB cord still connected his palmtop to the pc. Li recovered far enough to crawl to the window and risk peering around the frame.

"Some sort of rocket-launcher," she coughed as the dust from the explosion hit her lungs. "They're setting up a machine gun and-" she pulled her head sharply around the frame as shots came whizzing into the room, "shooting at us with rifles." Hex checked the screen of his palmtop.

"1:46 to go. Amber do we have an easy exit?"

"Not as such… We're going through the ventilation shafts onto the roof, from where down the fire escape and back across the park to the van."

"You mean through that ventilation shaft?" He motioned to a six-inch wide airbrick in the wall.

"Ahhhh. Yes. Erm…" she turned back to the diagram.

Machine gun fire rattled the office wall, prompting Alpha Force to take cover. Amber and Hex huddled behind the heavy wooden desk, Li a filing cabinet and Paulo the cupboard containing the fuse box. Alex, over by the door, crouched behind the wooden partition.

"Right. I'm fed up of this," said Paulo. "Everyone, cover your eyes."

"Why?"

"Night vision. You're going to need it when I turn out the lights."

Alex crawled over, realising when this was going. "You have to be kidding."

"Let me explain. Your eyes are going to adjust to the dark whilst they are covered. I will then remove all of the fuses for this building, which will plunge us into darkness. In the confusion, we run down the stairs, past the gunmen and out the way we came in." He sat back, triumphant.

"This was your plan?"

"Yep."

"Good God," sighed Hex, rolling his eyes before returning to his palmtop. "Twenty-five seconds."

Alpha Force covered their eyes as Paulo located the appropriate fuses for the lights in the complex.

Seconds passed.

"Any minute now…"

Hex's palmtop beeped.

"Now!" shouted Alex as Paulo ripped out the fuses and they were plunged into darkness. Straining to make out the details of the office, Alpha Force nevertheless plunged onwards, through the dark, flailing shapes of the gunmen and down the corridor, not stopping until they reached the bright light of the park.

Pausing, Amber spotted their destination up ahead, shouting to the others, she sped off to wards the white van, opening the doors and helping the others in. Alpha Force slumped in the back as the van sped away.

"Well that was fun!" exclaimed Li.

**Well, what do you think? Any good? As I say, please do review, your comments are valuable to me. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm back, and I come bearing gifts- the next chapter. No action, but necessary in order to set things up for the rest of the fic. The usual disclaimers apply.**

**Once more unto the breach, then:-**

Chapter Two

Feeling the van slow, Alex pulled himself upright, waiting until the van had stopped before sliding the side door open.

"Pile out, guys, we've reached the checkpoint," he said, stepping down himself and greeting the trio in front of them. "Major, Ms Blooming, Mr Hart."

"Congratulations, recruits. You completed the course in a little over seventeen minutes. That puts you safely within the maximum time limit."

"Hurray!" cried Li, jumping out of the van and springing up beside Alex, followed, less energetically, by the others.

"Hey, amigos," shouted Paulo, seeing the masked gunmen sauntering towards them, pulling off their helmets and taking swigs of water.

"You did great, guys!" said the leader. "We thought we had you cornered in that office, but that thing with the lights was amazing."

Paulo thanked him with an over-the-top bow.

"Recruits!" Alpha Force turned to pay attention to the three invigilators. "We have formulated our reports and submitted them to Human Resources Management. You will now each make your way to a recruitment office, where you will be briefed by a staff controller."

Hex poured himself a glass of iced water, setting it down on the desk in front of him.

"Hex Brown." A pale-looking woman with a severe haircut brought out a ring-binder, opening it at the first page. "Accomplished hacker, involved in all major Alpha Force incidents and several other," -she paused and looked down at him disapprovingly- "internet security issues. Personality: Withdrawn, introverted. Motivated by the desire to right wrongs and protect his friends. Main weakness: affection for Amber Middleton."

Hex squirmed, uncomfortable as his life was dissected before him.

"Following your fourteen-day training program, you will be pleased to know that we have decided that you could be of use to us. Your exceptional performance in the combat training compound demonstrated your ability to work well under pressure, as well as your familiarity with most modern computer systems. As of the twelfth of November this year, you will be working with the online fraud team, where you will be attempting to track down high-level tax evasion scams. Thank you for your time."

"What about my friends?"

"I'm afraid I can't speak to you about any other applicants. Please close the door as you leave." She returned his file to its place in her cabinet as Hex rose and left.

Walking along the corridor to the canteen, he felt dazed; he was still in shock. Had that woman actually just told him what he would be doing for the rest of his life?

_"Hola, amigo."_ Paulo caught up with him. "How did it go?"

"I'm going to spend the rest of my life tracking down tax evaders. You?"  
Paulo sighed. "I'm becoming a modifications mechanic. _Dios. _Basically, I'm going to be making cars go really fast so that overpaid agents can have fun. Looks like we both have great futures."

"I hate them!" screeched Amber, surging from her seat as they entered the canteen. Hex and Paulo looked around uneasily, desperately hoping that her not inconsiderable wrath would not fall upon them. "They've put me and Li in a call centre! _A call centre! _Translating suspicious phone calls! _Do they know who I am?"_

Hex tutted. "Li and I."

"Whatever."

Li returned from the tills with five trays of food balanced acrobatically about her person, followed closely by Alex, who greeted them with the words:  
"Survival Instructor."

Li winced, and the five members of Alpha Force slumped despondently into their chairs and into silence, picking at their meals. Within a few minutes, Hex had taken out his palmtop, compulsively checking his emails. A smile spreading across his face, he looked up.

"Hey, guys, do your jobs all not start until November?"

His four friends nodded their assent.

"In that case, my friends, we are going on holiday. Pack your backs."

"Where are we going?" asked Amber. "If this is that bed and breakfast in Brighton again…"

"How about a private castle, Amber? Set on its own private island? Off the coast of Southern France? Is that rich enough for you?"

"Wow!" squealed Amber, grabbing Li's hand. "Come on, we have to start packing. I'm going to take my black sequinned top for one evening, and perhaps my Gucci necklace? But what about shoes? Perhaps those gorgeous red ones…." She continued talking animatedly as she left the cafeteria, leaving the boys alone around the table.

"You sure know how to cheer her up," smirked Alex.

"Oh, be quiet, guys. And go and pack, we leave in three hours."

THREE HOURS LATER

"Amber, what are you doing in there?" Hex stood outside the door to Amber's dorm room, wincing as he heard banging and smashing coming from the small room. Hearing a desperate wail and fearing for her safety, he opened the door uninvited, only to be met with a haggard Amber, lying on her bed sobbing and clutching a pair of tight jeans.

"Amber, are you okay?" Hex crossed the room and sat on the bed beside her.

"They just won't go in," she sobbed hysterically, indicating one of three open suitcases on the floor.

"Can't you just leave them? You can wash your clothes whilst you are there-"

"No!" shrieked Amber, aghast at the very thought of being parted with her clothes. "They're designer! This is meant to be a holiday!"

"Can't you leave something behind? We have to meet the taxi in ten minutes."

Amber forced herself to calm down. "Fine. I'll take this out-" she yanked a zipped-up orange bag from the nearest case- "and put these in here." She carefully folded the jeans into the gap. "And you can have this in your luggage," she said, tucking the orange bag into Hex's satchel. "How did you fit all of your stuff in there?"

"By not taking the entire contents of my wardrobe."

Amber rolled her eyes, before zipping up her suitcases and picking up her bag. "Come on then. You can carry my bags," she added, skipping off and leaving Hex with three heavy suitcases and an exasperated expression.

**And so there it is. Please, please review! I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here goes chapter three. Written entirely when I should have been revising for my GCSEs, but there you go…**

Chapter three

Over two hours later, in the middle of a Ryanair flight to Bordeaux, Alex Craig was getting bored. Having twice repacked his survival kit, read all of the promotional material in the back of the seat in front of him and devised seventy-two ways to rearrange the letters of the phrase "smaller life belts will be provided for younger passengers" he was now rapidly running out of entertainment for the remainder of the three-hour flight. This did not bode well for any of his fellow passengers, but especially Hex, who was sitting next to him, deeply engrossed in his palmtop.

"Hex?" He said.

"Mmmm?" replied Hex, not taking his eyes from the screen.

"What are you doing?"

"You don't really want to know, Alex. It would blow your mind."

"Oh." Alex, feeling downheartened by his friend's low intellectual expectations of him, relapsed into silence. A few seconds later, however-

"Hex?"

"Yes?" Again, he didn't turn from his palmtop.

"Try me."

Hex sighed, hibernating his palmtop and turning to face Alex.

"This is why I hate travelling with you. You never bring anything to occupy yourself."

"I brought a book!"

"'_The ultimate SAS survival manual'_."

"That's a book!"

"But you already know it off by heart."

Alex again subsided into silence, as Hex returned to his palmtop.

"Anyway, what were you doing? I have," he checked his watch, "two hours left for an explanation."

Hex sighed, resigning himself to a long and drawn out conversation.

"I'm attempting to find a formula which will allow me to calculate the area beneath a quadratic curve which passes through five dimensional multiversal space."

Alex's face remained blank. "I'm sorry; I have no idea what you just said. Could you…" he shrugged. "Elaborate?"

Hex sat up in his seat and put down his palmtop, warming to his subject. "Well strictly speaking, the phrase "beneath the curve" is incorrect- we're actually calculating the five-dimensional state-possibility space enclosed by it. The curve, that is."

"What curve?" Alex queried.

"In conventional mathematics-" Hex sneered "-there are two quadratic states: those using x the power of two- describing the relationship between the length of one side of a square and its area- and those to the power of three, which describe the relationship between the side length of a cube and its area in 3D space. Extrapolating this to four dimensions is easy- this is simply the passage of time- but the fifth is more difficult. It represents space-time-_probability_ as a finite value, but at the same time has to express the infinite nature of space-time-_possibility. _This gives rise to some really interesting calculations- Alex?"

Alex's head lolled down onto Hex's shoulder, his eyes closed

"Alex? Are you even listening?" He prodded his friend's head, which subsequently flopped over the armrest and into Hex's lap. Gingerly, he lifted up Alex's head, settling it on one of the complimentary pillows, before rolling his eyes and muttering:

"Bloody timewaster…"

It was another four hours in total before Alpha Force finally found themselves standing, with their luggage, on the wooden jetty of l'île Saint-Christophe. Having taken a motorboat to the island, they were now exhausted, and sat down on the warm wooden decking, letting their feet dangle into the blue water below them.

Looking around him, Paulo could see that they would enjoy their time here; the jetty was to one side of a sandy, sun-beaten cove, backed by cliffs above which he could see the terracotta roofs of the chateau. Smiling, he lay back onto the warm wood, feeling the heat seep into his body.

"Hex!" came a cry, prompting Alpha Force to sit up and squint towards the cliff face. Running down the winding cliff path was a tall figure, loose-fitting clothes billowing behind her as she waved at them. "Guys! You made it!"

"That's Isabelle. She's one of the best hackers I know," said Hex, respect and even a hint of admiration creeping into his voice. "Isabelle!" he laughed, as she pulled him into a tight hug as she reached the group on the jetty. Amber stiffened. "This is Paulo, Alex, Li and Amber," he said, indicating each of them in turn.

"Hi guys, welcome to my home. I'm Isabelle. Hex talks about you all the time."

Hex went slightly red.

"Anyway, I assume you're hungry. Why don't we head up for dinner, and then I'll show you around?"

"Sounds great," said Amber, but her smile didn't seem to reach her eyes. Noticing this, Li decided to take charge.

"Right. What's for dinner?"

"Ravioli, it's all I can cook. Can I help you with that case?" she asked, taking one of Amber's cases as the six set off up the winding cliff path towards the castle perched high above.

"What's wrong with you?" whispered Li, falling into step besides Amber as they walked up the stone cobbled path.

"Nothing."

"Really? Because when you spoke to Isabelle earlier you looked like you wanted to kill her."

"No I didn't."

Suddenly, Li snapped her fingers.

"You're jealous!"  
"I have no idea what you could be talking about."

"You're jealous because you think that Hex might like Isabelle more than he likes you."

Amber was relieved of the burden of having to reply by Paulo, who poked Li from behind, giving Amber the chance to catch up with Alex.

"This place is great, is it not?" Paulo sighed as he looked around. So peaceful and romantic."

"Yeah." Li was looking out across the sea towards the setting sun.

"These are my favourite times, you know? When it's just us." He put his arm around Li's shoulder.

"Hey, Paulo," said Li.

"Yes?"

"Move it or lose it. Your arm, I mean."

The evening meal that night looked delicious, despite Isabelle's protestations that she was no cook. "Frankly I'm amazed it's not burned to the pan," she told Alpha Force, who laughed as she handed out the plates. "Normally my uncle does the cooking, but he's gone to pick up my cousin from the airport. She's coming home from her boarding school in London."

"Will we meet them tomorrow?" asked Hex.

"They're getting back at two am, so yes."

"Cool." Alpha Force and Isabelle tucked in to their meals, silent as they ate- the long day had left them hungry.

Paulo broke the silence. "That was delicious, Isabelle." He gave her a wide smile, as he sat back having finished his meal. Li stared at him in incomprehension.

"Paulo, it is physically impossible for you to have eaten your meal that quickly."

"Apparently not," said Hex.

Half an hour later, Alpha Force was standing in the main foyer, staring up at the painted ceiling three floors above them.

"Almost everything here was built since the sixteenth century, after a fire destroyed the previous castle. All that remains of that earlier building is the cellars and basements, which stretch beneath most of the island."

"We could go caving!" exclaimed Li, excited at the prospect of an adventure holiday.

"Mmm," said Hex unenthusiastically.

Alpha Force followed Isabelle up the grand staircase, and around the first-floor landing which went around the sides of the entrance hall and provided access to all the different areas of the castle. Isabelle listed them, pointing out each heavy wooden door as they passed it.

"That's the West Wing; we only use it for storage now. Down those stairs is the eighteenth century Long Gallery that takes you to the beach, if you go up those stairs you end up in my uncle's wing of the house. Through this door is the newer servants' wing, that's eighteenth century too. It's just empty now, obviously. Through here," she paused as she fished an ornate brass key from her pocket, "is the Louis XVIII wing, so named because the king stayed the night here once. It's also where you'll be staying." Unlocking the door, she ushered Alpha Force through and into a wide, richly decorated room. "This wing of the house belongs to me and Eloise- that's my cousin," she explained. "This is my room," she indicated the door to the right, "this is Eloise's and yours are the five end rooms. Then through here is our snug." She led Alpha Force through yet another ancient doorway and into a cosy room, heavily carpeted and populated, it seemed, entirely by comfortable-looking armchairs, sofas and assorted antique furniture.

"Cool," said Hex, obviously impressed.

"This is where we hang out, normally. And up that spiral staircase," she pointed to an archway in the corner, "is the tower."

"I had no idea that you lived in such luxury," said Amber. "This place is wonderful," she added, though slightly forcedly.

"And now for the main event," said Isabelle, eyes shining. Leading the bemused group back the way they came, down the stairs and into the foyer, she took Hex's arm, whispering to him, "You're going to love this."

They stopped outside an ornate door, painted red and adorned with carvings of roses and lilies. "Our family crest," she explained, pushing open the doors with a flourish.

The room that greeted Alpha Force was a strange hybrid of the old and the new; banks of computers on every side of the room looked out of place next to the old testament scenes depicted on the tapestries which covered the walls. Networking cables connected all of the computers, some of them suspended from the crystal chandeliers so as to keep them out of the way.

"Welcome to the largest server bank in France!" said Isabelle proudly. "This is my workroom, where I do all my programming and so on. Hey, Hex, come and look at this!" Hex moved over to a pc, where he proceeded to talk animatedly with Isabelle about a new type of processor that she'd just installed.

"Amber's jealous…" whispered Li to Paulo, before biting her lip so as to not burst out laughing.

**And there we are… I have to say, I'm quite pleased with myself for getting two chapters up in as many days. I must be working hard. Alternatively, I might just have too much free time, owing to my being so boring.**


End file.
